Me-Nail Exclusive 01 : Crystal Nail 53 (SPONSORED)

11:34:00 PM

Hey hey!

How's everybody doing today? Me, not so good. Battling with headache and struggling with a sick child is no walk in the park, but alas... Took Baby Boy to the doctor (and chugged down some Neuralgin) + got him the prescribed medicine from the doctor so fingers crossed he'll get better FTL! Like every other mother out there i'd much prefer if the illness can be transferred to me instead, i wish life is that easy! But i digress...

You might (or might not) still remember that Me-Nail's owner, my cousin L kindly gave me 12 bottles of Crystal Nail polishes and today i'm starting the 12-parter series of Crystal Nail reviews. I'm starting with, ergh... No 53 (i'm not even sure if it's the right number or not, but that's what's written on the bottom of the bottle), a grape purple gel effect one :

But first, a little bit about Crystal Nail. I've never heard of this brand before (and judging from the reactions i got from that workshop post, i'm guessing most of you feel the same) but apparently this is a Thai brand that's mainly used by nail academies there (called NSA) so it's actually it's a professional nail polish brand.

Let's start from the packaging!

Crystal Nail polishes come with square-shaped glass bottle that has a silver long wand topper

The topper's designed to look like it's bejeweled but actually just made from some plasticky material

Backside, with some simple information

No 53

I assume this is the same information as the one on the back but written in the language of the country that produces it, Thai

A clearer look of the bottled color

For me personally the design of the bottle is nothing special, i even find it a little tacky hehe. But then again i also never find most professional nail polishes' packaging to be eye catching :p.

Even though the topper's quite long, but the wand inside is actually very short

The brush's also quite short and small

I like the brush's design, it makes application a breeze with minimal chances of screwing up! Some nail polish brushes are so hard to manage that i ended up painting all of my cuticles as well as my nails (WTF), but it's not the case with Crystal Nail. Although (obviously) i still couldn't do a flawless (with not a smuge on my cuticle) application, i did quite well with this nail polish, if i may say so myself!

1 coat

I always use a base coat every time i paint my nails and this time's not exception, the result above is after 1 coat of The Skin Food (which is absolutely sucky and useless as a top coat but can be a decent base coat instead) and one coat of Crystal Nail in no 53.

Consistency of this nail polish is thin, gel-like and syrupy-looking. One coat is super sheer, patchy and uneven. The color seems more pinkish than purple. It dries quite speedily.

2 coats

After the second coat, the color beceme closer to the bottled color. But since the consistency's quite thin, 2 coats' proven not opaque enough yet-you can still see some patches and unevenness on my nails.

3 coats

It's finally opaque with 3 coats and the final color payoff is very similar to the bottled color! Although i had to apply three coats of this nail polish, i was not annoyed or anything because unlike some other nail polishes that become too thick and super hard to totally dry after too many layers, Crystal Nail no 53 still dries off at a considerably decent timing and hardened to a state that stays perfect even though i didn't actually treat my hands with tenderness afterwards.

As you can see from the picture above, the finishing of this nail polish is highly glossy and gel-like. The picture was taken before i applied a top coat (i'm using my *equally crappy as the Skin Food one* Wet n' Wild top coat). The glossiness before and after top coat is pretty much the same!

Final result after 3 coats of nail polish+a thin coat of top coat

I truly love the end result of this easy to use nail polish, and what's even better is even though i notice a very light tip wear after the third day (hardly noticeable at all), the manicure stays perfect looking for a whole week! And it's only topped using my super thin (so thin that it wasn't able to conceal any tiny imperfection i had on my nails, unlike my HG top coat Revlon Top Speed!) top coat!

I am highly recommending this nail polish (in this particular type *and color*, because they also have other types as shimmery, glittery, etc) for people who are looking for a deep grape (reminds me of grape candies!) nail polish that is easy to apply, dries speedily with very glossy finish and lasts quite long! (i consider 2-3 days as being on the poorer side of the spectrum, 4-5 as medium/good, anything above 5 as long lasting!).

Not recommending it for... eh... I can't think of any flaws, except maybe for it only being opaque after 3 coats, so maybe not for those who prefers to be able to just slick one coat anyhow and be done with it haha.

Would i purchase Crystal Nail polish by my own money? Of course, it's pretty great! Oh, and did i mention affordable? I have no idea where else you can get this brand in Indonesia other than Me-Nail, but Me-Nail's selling each bottle for IDR 75.000, and it's currently (until undisclosed time) on a 10% off, so it's only IDR 60.000!

I actually couldn't find Crystal Nail on their website (why is that, L? Maybe they haven't had time to update) but i'm sure you can still order them via BBM/Inbox! If you're interested in this particular shade you're welcome to grab my photo and show it to them!

That's all for now, if you're curious of the other shades please be patient because i'm very thorough when i'm reviewing stuffs, with nail polishes i need to wait until they chip so i can tell you how long they lasts!

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4
comments

I like nail polishes that dry up quickly so I can maximize my time doing something else right after I apply them. The first time application brought very sheer result. This one should be in three coats. The color looks vibrant. Nice on you! :)